FEBRUARY 23– Race Day Fundraiser At CCC- Details TBD (Breakfast and lunch provided.) Be there at 6:30am!

MARCH 14, 15, 16– Camping At Tomoka State Park $20-guys $10-Girls

Guys staying Friday and Saturday. Girls coming out on Saturday and staying over one night.

No camping gear provided by CCC…all meals and drinks included in price.

APRIL 19 Service Day #1

MAY 10 Amazing Race $20

MAY 25 Graduation Party/ Brunch

JUNE 6 Giant Birthday Party ($5 gift-details later)

JUNE 30- JULY 4 Summer Camp ($225)

AUGUST…– Service Day #2 (Teacher/Administrator Appreciation)

SEPTEMBER 5-6 Rock the Universe ($TBD)

OCTOBER 25 Fall Festival/ Costume Contest

NOVEMBER Service Day #3

DECEMBER Christmas Party

Events are subject to change, and more events will likely come up along the year. The best way to stay connected is by coming to the weekly worship nights at CCC.

Second, I’d like to take this time to explain the theme of the 2014 summer camp, and also explain why we have decided to go smaller and try something new.

CCCyouth has been attending StudentLife camps for the last several years because they have always shown a strong commitment to teaching God’s Word and meaningful corporate worship. They’ve consistently brought this to each camp, but I have slowly come to the conclusion that this style of summer camp does not best serve CCCyouth’s students. First, the camps are always expensive. I have done my best to keep camp costs down and as a result have only charged students the camp fee; this does not include transportation, food or any other cost. As a result, the youth budget takes a large hit. The value in StudentLife camps is found in the speakers and high-profile worship leaders. CCCyouth have sat under speakers like Matt Chandler, David Platt and Louie Giglio. They’ve worshipped under the leading of Kristian Stanfill, Chris Tomlin and the Rend Collective. While this has been great, the sessions are exceedingly long and hard for even the leaders to stay focused after a night of meaningful talk with students in the hotel rooms or dorm…especially towards the end of the week. With that said, I felt money and time were not being used as fruitfully as could be. Furthermore, if you ask most of the students what impacted them you’d mostly hear about meaningful small group times, one-on-one talks, and good times with their friends. This can be achieved for a better price and less stress.

CCCyouth exists to make disciples of Jesus Christ who glorify God by following Christ daily. To respond to God’s call we put the majority of our efforts towards discipleship–one on one time or small group time with the students, asking questions and opening the Bible together. I wanted to attend a camp that allowed us much more time to do this through the week. Christ Community and our weekly Youth Worship nights give the students multiple opportunities each week to hear good teaching and participate in meaningful corporate worship. What we need is extended “get away” time to pray and listen and respond. There is so much noise in our lives, so we want to use this camp week to unplug from the over-stimulation and constant time in front of screens (some time is ok though!) and spend more time letting the Word plant deep in our hearts.

This year I’m very excited to announce the 2014 Summer Camp theme is:

“Surprised By Hope.”

We borrowed the language from New Testament Scholar and Historian N.T. Wright who wrote a book of the same title. The book will inform our teaching and small group times, but not fully dominate every session. We will also show short clips of Wright explaining various ideas from different chapters. The theme of the camp came up in conversation between me and Doug Zimmerman, a youth leader and Deacon of CCC. We both feel burdened to equip the youth with real footing in their beliefs so that they won’t fall into despair each time a strong voice opposing their faith comes along, or to buckle under the many temptations they face along the way. With one week to more thoroughly explore something in our faith we wanted to find something that would pique interest. One of the holes we saw in our teachings over the years during Youth Worship is “Heaven” and life after death. Where do we go? How long does it take? Why should we care about the world if it’s all going to be destroyed? How does the hope of Heaven shape the way we live today?

My conviction is to make sure we bring the ideas down, but not to bring every idea down–the focus is on gaining understanding and growing in faith, hope and love…not passing a test at the end. Here is a link to a video of Wright explaining the book and video sessions: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxxxWt7ea4Y

The camp is located near Gainesville and is classic Florida mixed with classic camp life. There are fields, basketball courts, snack stands, a beautiful lake, bunk style cabins, cafeteria style eating (with a new menu!), a ropes course and tubing. It’s the perfect place to host our group. As stated on the calendar, the cost is $225. This price covers everything except spending money–which is not needed.

The best way to help cut camp costs is by having your student(s) attend the Raceday Fundraiser–mentioned above. This fundraiser will directly raise money for each participating student’s account. Student Account money can be used for camp payments.

Many more details will come in the next few months. In the meantime, please join us in prayer. Pray for planning to be fruitful, for the leaders signing up to serve, and for students unsure about attending.

As always, please feel free to comment below…I highly encourage questions and comments. I’ll post later this month to update parents on what CCCyouth is currently teaching through on Wednesday nights.